ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY LOOT
Europa League Round of 16, 2nd Leg
West Ham 2 Sevilla 0 (AET)
There have been numerous quality West Ham victories over the years, all worthy of the term ‘sublime’, but despite this season’s excellent set of results, no game, even the wins over Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City, has yet deserved that description at London Stadium. And so we come to West Ham’s genuine opportunity to progress to the Europa League Quarter-Finals. To get there they will need to beat six time winners Sevilla Fútbol Club, with a 0-1 deficit from the first leg already in the bag.
The pre-match light show, alternately plunges the stadium into eerie darkness and a wild cacophonous phosphorescence, setting the tone for the evening, along with an excitable jumping live disc-jockeyed music set.
The football is served as a cautious mix of well-organised defence and a triple garnish of Fornals-Lanzini-Benrahma in midfield to service the powerful stridings of Michail Antonio. Sevilla look as formidable an outfit as they were the previous Thursday, but this time they are not to have their performance augmented by the capacity West Ham crowd which outnumbers their travelling followers by around twenty to one.
Halfway through the first half, Areola is called on to make a superb reaction save to a deflected cross from Joan Jordán when he thrust out a strong hand to send the ball out and to safety. It is to prove their finest moment in the game as the Hammers gradually begin to make their numerous forays into the Seville defence count, and it is one of these moments just before half time that sees Antonio spin on a sixpence and reverse chip the ball across the goal to the far post where Souček cushions his header beyond the keeper’s outstretched fingers and into the top far corner of the net. The crowd explode into chants of joy as the tie is levelled and the hope of victory is planted.
In the second half West Ham continue to control the passage of the game, without further threatening the Sevilla goal despite the late introduction of Yarmolenko from the sub’s bench, fresh from his goal at the weekend against Aston Villa. Eventually the referee’s whistle signals another gruelling 30 minutes to find a goal to split these two sides.
Hammers regroup and Fredericks and Noble join the fray to offer energy to the. beleagured West Ham recruits. After several Hammers attempts on goal, Fornals hits in a vicious effort that Bounou can only half field, and there is Yarmolenko, for the second time in a week, to follow up and hit the back of the net with predatory disdain.
Is it too soon to call this one of the great nights in West Ham United history? The lesser accolade of Greatest Night at London Stadium nevertheless seems apposite.
The following morning’s draw reveals two potential knock out away second leg ties that mean we have had the only European home tie resolver game this season, a revelation that posthumously gives this game the status of Moyes’ and West Ham’s greatest night at London Stadium. The celebrations afterwards and since have certainly done nothing to allay such an accolade.
13 Alfonse Areola, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 4 Kurt Zouma, 31 Ben Johnson, 41 Declan Rice (c), 15 Craig Dawson, 8 Pablo Fornals, 10 Manuel Lanzini, 28 Tomas Souček, 9 Michail Antonio, 22 Saïd Benrahma
Substitutes: 7 Andriy Yarmolenko,, 16 Mark Noble, 24 Ryan Fredericks
Goalscorers: Tomas Soucek, Andriy Yarmolenko
